Experimental and modeling study on the progressive collapse resistance of a reinforced concrete frame structure under a middle column removal scenario

Abstract

SummaryA reinforced concrete (RC) frame structure is one of the widely used structural system. A localized damage caused by extreme events may lead to progressive collapse of entire structures. In this paper, progressive collapse test of three 1/3‐scaled reinforced concrete frame, including a single‐story without a slab, single‐story with a slab, and double‐story with slabs, are reported. Experimental results show that the progressive collapse process of RC frame consisted of five stages: an elastic stage, yield stage, beam mechanism stage, transient stage and catenary stage. The reinforced concrete slabs contribute to large progressive collapse resistance force compared with the specimen without slab. Furthermore, validation of the test results by using a refined solid finite element model was established. The effect of extensive parameters, including slab thickness, beam section height, seismic design intensity, and so forth, on the progressive collapse performance of RC frame structures was simulated as well. The simulation results indicated that the collapse resistance of RC structures was substantially improved with the increased of the slab thickness and seismic design intensity. Finally, a simplified model is proposed in accordance with experimental and numerical results to calculate the collapse resistance of RC frame structures.